AFC Portchester bowed out of the Emirates FA Cup thanks to a 2-0 replay defeat at home to Gloucester City.
The game became an increasingly fractious affair the longer it went on – with a fair few of what could kindly be described as robust tackles and reckless challenges not helping the mood of the game.
One thing that did unite the teams was being left baffled and perplexed by a number of decisions from the match officials – which did little to help quell the increasingly spicy nature of this encounter.
The visitors had more of the rub of the green with these questionable decisions but both teams seemed to build up sizeable lists of incidents which vexed them.
Cup ties such as this one often swing on key, pivotal moments and one of these arrived after only 12 minutes.
Gloucester won a corner on the right and as the ball was swung towards the penalty area – and video footage shows the ball went out of play pretty quickly after it was taken – a player from each side took a tumble after their movement took them into each others’ paths.
Inexplicably the referee pointed to the penalty spot – it took a while for both sets of players to realise what had happened as neither side had appealed for anything.
One thing that was very certain was the way the penalty was dispatched into the net – Joe Hanks smashed it low and hard into the bottom corner.
The visitors dominated most of the first half and their flowing attacks threatened to quickly take the game away from Portchester.
They had a goal disallowed for offside on 17 minutes before they doubled their lead on 31 minutes. A free kick from the right was played into the box and King Baidoo was in the right place to guide the ball off the post and into the net.
Tempers were starting to flare though thanks to a number of incidents being allowed to go without punishment and a clash between Baidoo and Jack Lee brought things to boiling point.
As the two players jumped for the ball it looked like the visiting attacker may have caught Lee but as the duo came back down to earth, there appeared to be contact with the Portchester defender’s leg which left him needing treatment and it sparked a mass coming together of both sets of players and plenty of pushing and raising of hands in the melee.
From all of that just one yellow card was shown by the referee and several off the ball incidents passed without punishment.
The Royals were given the chance to get back into the game six minutes before half time when they were awarded a penalty due to a shove in the back on a player in the box.
However, Gloucester keeper Jared Thompson was equal to Marley Ridge’s spot kick when he got down quickly to push his shot away from the goal.
The half time interval came at the right time to help ease some of the tensions and Portchester came out in the second half determined to give it everything they had to try and find a way back into the tie.
The combination of Gloucester’s strong defensive performance and the finishing touch deserting them at the crucial moment meant the Royals were not able to create a comeback.
On 62 minutes Connor Duffin and Rob Taw combined to get an attack going down the right and a pass inside found Alfie Stanley, whose shot to the near post had to be diverted behind by Thompson.
Gloucester were looking dangerous on the counter attack as the home side looked to push forward and on 74 minutes Baidoo played the ball to Sion Spence on the right side of the box. His shot beat keeper Steven Mowthorpe but hit the outside of the post.
On 83 minutes Ryan Wilkins put his header from the corner just over the top and four minutes later the visitors had a goal disallowed for offside.
With a minute to go Duffin popped up on the left to set up another chance for Stanley to shoot but this time his effort deflected up off a defender and dropped on the roof of the net.
Ed Williams was shown a red card in injury time before Charlie Williamson’s run down the right set up a final chance for Portchester to score but again Stanley’s shot was blocked – this time behind for a corner.
